The government has launched an eight-week consultation into its Bill to reform Britain’s railways, which include a powerful new passenger voice

 
Alexander: ‘This landmark reform will sweep away decades of failure’

 
The government unveiled plans for the long-awaited bill to reform Britain’s railways this week. They include setting up a powerful passenger watchdog to give passengers a voice and hold train operators to account.

This once-in-a-generation overhaul will establish Great British Railways (GBR), the new body bringing track and train together, delivering reliable services for passengers, and catalysing growth across the country. Outlined in a consultation launched this week, the plans will “smash a broken rail system, put passengers at the forefront of all decisions made on the railways, ending major failures and disruptions like the 2018 timetabling crisis”.

The new independent watchdog will be tasked with ensuring GBR addresses the issues that consistently rank highest in passenger complaints, rooting out the problems that cause poor journeys, ensuring passengers are given clear information when they travel and help tackle the maze of confusing rail fares and tickets passengers have to navigate.

Secretary of state for transport, Heidi Alexander, said: “This landmark reform will sweep away decades of failure, creating a Great British Railways passengers can rely on.

“We’re giving passengers a powerful voice with a new watchdog dedicated to addressing their biggest concerns, building railways people can trust, improving our services and boosting the economy in the process – the priority in our Plan for Change.”

We’re giving passengers a powerful voice with a new watchdog

The new watchdog will hold operators to account on behalf of passengers and arbitrate where passengers are not satisfied with the handling of a complaint. Working with the transport secretary and GBR, it will also be given the powers to set clear standards for passengers on things like journey information and assistance, investigate persistent problems and publish reports on poor service. Where poor passenger experiences are identified, it will be able to refer this to the railway regulator for enforcement action.

Growth is at the heart of this government’s missions and the key priority in the Plan for Change, which is why “one of GBR’s guiding principles will be to work closely with the private sector to create jobs and drive investment and innovation”.

This includes investing billions of pounds in the private sector supply chain, so that improvements to the network are more coordinated, giving longer-term assurance to businesses, alongside a duty to promote the use of rail freight. A long-term rail strategy “will give industry certainty on what they can expect, including a long-term plan for rolling stock”.

Open access services will continue having a place on the network “where they encourage growth, improve connectivity and provide more choice for passengers, as long as these benefits are not outweighed by costs to the taxpayer and impacts performance”.

Laura Shoaf, chair of Shadow Great British Railways, commented: “The plans set out [this week] will mean a better railway for everyone that uses it, allowing industry to work closer together, putting passengers and customers first and providing better value for money for taxpayers.”

‘A railway fit for Britain’s future’ consultation is now underway and will last for eight weeks. 

 
This article appears in the latest issue of Passenger Transport.

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